No Title..

There was a certain kind of peace he saw in her while she slept. Sometimes, he'd stare at her, and wonder if she was happier when she's asleep. ''Don't die today, honey'', Half a world away, he knows he's wrong. He kissed her hand as he moved it from under her head; left without saying a word.

The cold air of the refrigerator was harsh on his skin; the stitches weren't out yet, but at least it was closed now. He breathed in at the shock of the hardened air's assault on his skin. Every morning for four weeks, he had done the same. Some things are exempt from desensitization.

Matt removed two rashers of bacon from the grocery drawer, and threw them on the grill across the kitchen, both landing parallel to each other. Remarkable. He switched on the gas, and took care of his hygiene.

Emerging from the bathroom, he placed the bacon into a pre-cut roll, walked to the car, switched on the radio and began to eat. It was four thirty AM in the world. He got out of the car and walked to work. He never liked eating at home without Sue.

He turned and began his walk to the station. The tear in his obliques began was enhanced by his routine pace. Pain is just weakness leaving the body, he remembers his father telling him. Fuck that, Pain was the result of glass being heated, cracking, and propelled into his side. Any higher, it would have been death, and lower, it would have been cause for anhedonia.

The clock at the station said five twelve, he endured the pain for no reason. Three minutes early. Shows character, shows willpower, shows dedication, he thought.

He bypassed the kitchen, and the lockers and walked straight to the Station Manager. Matt was itching to come back to work, Graham had told him exactly what he already knew. No harm in trying.

Matt turned to the door to leave, there were three frames, containing cuttings from newspaper; 'Hero saves car bomb child', caught his eye. He paused, then continued on his way out, he turned to Graham, 'I shouldn't be applauded for doing my job'', and walked out the door.

He began to wonder why he woke up this time to be told what he knew, and began walking home. He hears the sound of a car coming towards him from behind. Matt beings to wonder why, when its so quiet, someone is driving recklessly. More specifically, wonders why he knows that even at this time, when there's nothing else around, he knows he's about to be hit.

'Close your eyes, It'll only hurt for a second.'

The car plowed into his back, and Matt penetrated the already smashed wind shiled, landing on the driver, and breaking the seat, and rendering the driver unconscious and hazard free.

Matt's stitches had burst. If he wasn't in his condition, he'd have died on impact. They lay on each other for minutes, just breathing and leaking. Matt opened his eyes. His training said ''don't move'', his body said ''no more''

Matt looked down at the body, seeing it was clinging for life, Ordinarily, he would have looked for open wounds, applied pressure, but right now, he was glad to be alive. Matt clambered over the driver, fingered the door open and dropped to the floor.

Matt set himself up against a wall, about 2 feet from the door. The amount of blood from his stomach and his head was making draining the depth from his sight.  He could see the driver moving. Vince. His name was Vince. Somehow, Matt knew this; he knew everything about him. He knew the police would care less if he died as opposed to if he lived. He was scum. Vince knew it himself. Hell, Vince' mother knew it.

As Vince began to step into consciousness, Matt stepped out.

Vince looked down at Matt. He, too, knew everything about his victim. He knew that soon, the police would be after him, but he also knew he was innocent. He stood up, folding his arms into his stomach, as if folding his intestines back into their place.  The sirens were getting louder as Vince stepped out the car. He began to hobble to escape the scene.

Panic stricken, he knew the closest place to be was at Matt's. He knew Sue would be sleeping. He knew Matt kept a spare key under a log-shaped patio stone in the front garden. The third one from the door. He could go there.

Vince got to the house, let himself in, dragged his way upstairs and into the nursery. Matt and Sue were expecting, there was no need for anyone go in here.  Just as well the carpets were red, he thought.

Vince looked at the ceiling fan, and begin hyperventilating and began seeing a paramedic standing over him.

Matt woke up, to a paramedic standing over him. ''Fuck off, Fuck off, leave me.. I'm fine, i'm .. fuck off'', Matt growled and stood up and walked three steps before his clavicle met the lamppost. Matt fell to the floor, seeing a ceiling fan and drifted off, falling into a sleep.

Six hours later, Matt was awoken in A&E, remarkably coherent, and astonishingly rude. Sues shook the clouds from her eyes and she threw her arms around him. Matt placed his hand on her thigh, and began moving up. She smiled and joked he was in no condition for what she was prepared to do, now he was awake.

Matt smiled, and realized, he had a woman willing to have sex with him and he had money.

He couldn't wait to get home.

Vince wakes up, and cleans himself up, he looks in the mirror, and realizes his tattered body isn't his. He wondered how anyone could live in a body like this, where uncombed,unshaved, hair was status quo, where running your tongue across the back of your teeth, the plaque flakes off on your tongue its so deep.

Cold water is splashed on his face, he shakes the cobwebs loose, and remembers, that car failed its MOT, the jewelry and bank cards and bills in the back seat of that car were probably in police care now and he realized, the woman he loved was with a lowlife thief.

Vince made his way back to the nursery. This kinda shit only happens in movies..Movies and comic books, he thought. There was a solution to this. There's always a solution. Prozac maybe. He'll figure it out.

It was night now, Vince ambled his way to the hospital. He surmised there were two outcomes for this: One he got some help and two he could see Sue. But really, would it matter? who'd believe a crazy, odious man over a hero firefighter? Either way, Matt wouldn't be able to keep that body, with a body designed for power, there was no telling what the bastard would do. And at this moment, Sue was a potential 'do'

Vince had changed his clothes earlier, to look more respectable. He felt dirty getting his own wardrobe tainted by such a piece of scum. By the time he'd got to the hospital, he'd decided seeing Matt would be the logical choice. No-one would believe him anyway.

Vince knew exactly where he was going, he'd been there too often with victims he'd saved. He knew where Matt would be, He'd been there before, the same room each time, He was there just a month ago. The blinds were closed, and although visiting hours were over, rules were broken for Matt.

Vince opened the door, Sue wearing a skirt had one leg up on the bed rails and one on the floor, Matt has his hand embedded there and his other hand down her blouse. She didn't even notice Vince come in, as she purred with pleasure. Vince picked up a bin with fury and ran over and contacted with Matt's freshly stitched head. Sue buttoned her top as she stumbled back and screamed, VInce knew his body was in no way comparable to the Matt's gym carved body. He dropped the bin and picked up the heart monitor next to him. Working in places you need to escape teaches you that blunt trauma is the quickest answer to most situations, and began denting his skull before the plastics broke over his head.

Sue jumped on Vince, in the panicky way women do when trying to stop fights, and Matt rolled out of bed on the other side. Vince tried to explain he wasn't just attacking, but of course, he knew the reaction he'd get, along with a finger in the eye. He shook off Sue. He turned into Matt who was now standing between the window and the bed and took  a dive into him, knocking them both out the window.

Fourth floor, there wasn't really a chance. When you're working in places you're trying to get out of, if blunt trauma doesn't work, gravity is your next step. Sometimes, God can save you at the bottom, sometimes, you just keep falling.

Sue looked down, crying, as the nurses came running in at all the commotion. They  were too late. Some madman had thrown the father of her child out a window. Some madman had stripped her of her life.

'Don't die today, honey''

Some Madman.